Saturday, October 2, 2010

FREE Outlanders!

Well, this is nice. Random House, as part of a promotion to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of OUTLANDER's publication next year, is doing _two_ giveaways!

First, a program to give away promotional copies of OUTLANDER paperbacks--see here for the details!

And secondly....for a limited time, Random House is giving away the Kindle edition of the OUTLANDER e-book FREE! See here to download it!

You know, ever since that book was published, I've had The Worst Time trying to describe it to people; never been able to do it in twenty-five words or less. [g] After some trial and error, I finally took to telling people, "Look--open it anywhere, and read three pages. If you can put it down again, I'll pay you a dollar." Never lost any money on that bet [g]--though do note I'm not making it here (too many difficulties of administration).

Still, the point stands. It's One Odd Book (well, heck, they _all_ are), and as my first beloved editor used to say, "These _have_ to be word of mouth books, because they're too weird to describe to anybody."

That being true, the only really good way to explain them is to let people look for themselves--so kudos to Random House for giving us fresh opportunities to spread the word!

47 comments:

argh! I looked at the link for the Kindle edition (I don't have a Kindle yet, but was tempted and this might have pushed me into getting one!) and found: This title is not available for customers from:AustraliaShop titles available for Australia

Yay! Got my free Kindle edition. I had to replace my much-worn paperback copy a little while ago and I was thinking about getting it on Kindle. Problem solved.ps I can't believe Outlander is coming up on 20 years.

I cna't believe it's been 20 years! But I have to tell you-I'm already a Diana Gabaldon ambassador -I have NUMEROUS sets of the Outlander series, just because I bought my own, then I got so attached to Jaime and Clare that whenever I see them in used book stores or yard sales -I buy those copies too. I've given away complete sets more than a few times, and still have (at the moment) probably 9 or 10 complete sets on the shelves, waiting for a potential reader. And lots of single copies waiting for mates. I can't stand to leave Jaime sitting on a shelf in some used book store. Thank god it doesn't bother me at B&N. (Should note that NO ONE has ever given the books back, or said "I don't like it." But they do come back with all sorts of chatter about this scene or that conversation or what will happen to so-and-so.) It is an addiction. I'm sure of it.

I was so happy to see the free Kindle edition. I have all the hard back editions but the size and weight of the books were always a problem for me.I've been trying to justify purchasing them all again in the digital format and this just gave me a head start.

When I lived in Germany... I got the Army Post library to buy the books because one of the assistants was my friend. She said "I don't read romance novels" I said it isn't romance and just read the first chapter. She has been reading you ever since. I also had a German friend that got hooked and all of her friends are reading too. I wish I had a KIndle so I could have it in that format too... but I guess I will live with my paper copy :)

Too funny.. I already AM a die hard, DG/Outlander Ambassoder.. In fact I have just ordered a copy of Outlander, In spanish as a x-mas gift for my exchange students mom, As it is my solid opinion, that everyone... on god's green earth MUST read this pure genius.

Well, Diana's comment about trying to describe her books or classify them is true. The first time I saw Outlander was as a paperback on a shelf in B Dalton when it first came out. If I remember right, the book synopsis was really heavy on the time-travel aspect and I just didn't get it. then I was sent the book and well, I don't know how many times I've read it or the others since. Totally addicted and I've got others addicted as well.

Thanks to this promotion, I discreetly downloaded Outlander on my DH's iPad, in the hope that he might finally understand my obsession with Jamie, Claire and the whole series.

It has been difficult explaining to my Book Club what your books exact genre. Terms like "historical fiction", "impossible love triangles" (or caltrops), and "drama" get all tossed in together to the raised eyebrows of my group. I did forewarn all the ladies that once they start, they _will_ get addicted (in essence, turning me into a legal substance abuse pusher)

Ha! Next time the book club meets, I shall follow your lead and bet every one a dollar for three pages of reading!

That, and give out the Random House Outlander books in a dark alley ...

I jumped on this as soon as I saw it this weekend on Amazon Kindle on Facebook. How wonderful! I too own all the books, but would love to have them all digital, so this will get me started!

Has anyone figured out yet what the "bonus material" is? That is how it was advertised on Amazon Kindle's facebook site: Outlander with Bonus Material.

I've also initiated quite a few people into the Jamie and Claire obsession, and we are all huge fans! At any given time, some one in our group will be rereading and sharing what is happening. (I was listening to my free audible download of Outlander that I got this summer in an Audible.com promotion, and I'm up to the part where Claire goes to Geillis' house in the village. She comes up "red-faced from climbing the stairs" after being downstairs with Duncan. Yeah, right!) Love it!

I am proud to say that I have convinced about 20 people to read it- and they have all have loved the books! :) Just this last week I had a lady at work sit me down and THANK me for telling her about this book! :) I loved passing them on! It is a joy to share these books with others... so I have more people to talk to them about! :) :) Infact, I buy used copies every chance I get so I can just give them away to people! ;) That's how much I love them. Very cool that they are passing them out!

Well, it depends on whether the Germany publisher (that would be Blanvalet) decides to do a similar promotion. Each country has its own publisher, and they each have their own ideas about how best to handle a book.

(Actually, Germany hasn't even bought rights to THE EXILE yet, because they're "dubious" about whether graphic novels have any market in Germany.)

Good heavens. Seems like it was just yesterday that I was gladly losing sleep and spending my nights until 2 am to read, devouring greedily every word and every single moment. Twenty years. My lady, congrats!

Hi Diana, Well this is my description of Outlander to someone who I was trying to encourage to move it up on her TBR list :

The story starts with a nurse in 1945 who accidentally falls through some standing stones in Scotland. When she comes to it's 1743 in Scotland. So there's lots of men in kilts(big grin) as she's in the Highlands. It's also right before the Jacobite uprising that ended at the battle of Culloden so that's the history part. I learned so much history that I had no clue about from reading these books.

So it's not too spoilerish she falls in love with one of the men in kilts and has to marry him for her own safety. … there's romance, history, humor and a whole lot of other stuff. The writing is amazingly good and you find that the characters become like real people to you. You worry for them, you love them, you hate the villains. But just like real people nobody is one dimensional so the good guys have some serious flaws and the bad guys have traits that make them redeemable.Definitely move her up on your list

Hi Diana, I have devoured the first 3 books and waiting for the next 4 to arrive. I was first aware of 'Voyager' a few years ago when I met an American lady in London at a conference at which I was speaking. She told me I would love this bok and sent me a copy. I didn't read it then, but my American daughter in law, Megan has talked about your books so much that I brought her copy of 'Outlander' home with me and am now totally hooked. There are some wierd coincidences here: - let me try and explain. Have you seen the movie 'Calendar Girls' ? If so Helen Mirren plays my character. I am one of the original ladies who stripped off to raise money for Leukemia Research. It is 11 years since that first calendar but we are now up to £3 million. Our son went to Seattle in 2001 to play rugby with the team there who fundraise for the Seattle branch of Leukemia society of America, with whom we had become close friends. He met a girl., Megan, married and they have 3 kids now!! They came over to England this summer and Megan wanted to got to Jamie's Scotland. We have a friend who happens to have castle on Loch Ness where we stayed. I hadn't read any of the books then! She went to Urquart Castle, Culloden and looked for the stones everywhere!! Megan loved it all. I now have a career as a speaker and talk about the whole calendar experience. I am a guest lecturer on cruise ships and Megan came with me earlier this year on a ship called Artemis to the Caribbean and one of the ports we visited was Grand Turk. I am going back there in December and it will all mean so much more to me after reading 'Voyager'. 'Calendar Girls' stage show is touring. It has been in Australia, now in Russia, Poland, Israel. Brazil, Denmark, Germay, Czech Republic- opening in Canada in Spring. If successful in Canada it well then come to US, which will be wonderful. All the time raising more funds for research. When I had the idea to do an alternative Womens Institute calendar in the nude, I had no notion of the huge effect it would have. It has been an amazing experience. I hope you manage to get to the end of this essay! Would love to meet up one day, who knows. Thankyou for the books, I love them.

Dear Diana;I was just talking to a friend of mine that lives in Israel and I was recommending her your books. But, after some research I found out that the books have not been translated to Hebrew yet. Do I have the right info? Also my mom in Argentina, could not find a copy of Outlander yet, even though I know they have been translated to Spanish. I guess they will all have to learn English.

Dear Sandra G.i live in israel and recently bought outlander in hebrew for my daughter and my best friend. one translation down and hoping for more to come. my daughter was so hooked that i ended up reading dragonfly in amber out loud to her - what a great bonding experience! tell your friend she can buy the hebrew translation at steimatsky.

OUTLANDER has certainly been translated into Hebrew, because I've seen it. [g] (An Israeli friend tells me that title translates as "Not Kosher," which I thought was hilarious.)

And there _are_ Spanish editions, but the earlier ones are hard to find because they were done by a different publisher. We're hoping to get those rights back at some point, in order to make them easily available again.

Hi Diana;Funny enough, my mom was very upset on the phone with me this morning (as if I were the publisher) because she cannot get her hands on FORASTERA which is the translation for OUTLANDER. It is out of print in Argentina. And listen to this one, they told her at a major bookstore that you were born in Spain! How about that?

[laughing] Well, that's a new one! My Dad's family certainly came from Spain--about 500 years ago. Settled in what then became New Mexico. (My mother's side is mostly English, from Yorkshire, with one German branch. My facial features come from that branch; I look very much like my German great-great-grandmother, though with my father's coloring. All of which causes people to think I'm a Native American. [g] (Not saying there _is_ no Native American in the mix, given the New Mexico connection, but if so, it could be anything from Azteca to Cheyenne, with Apache or Yaqui being the most likely.)

Hi Diana,I downloaded my copy to my Android phone as soon as I read this and of course entered to win the 10 copies plus the Exile (even though I've already told everyone I know about this series!)About a week ago I was completely suprised to see a box on my doorstep with not 10, but 24 copies of Outlander! I know it is the promotional copy because of the cover (which I am familiar with because my mom won a case of book during your promotional give away prior to the release of Echo!)I was just wondering, how I ended up with this prize? I can't seem to find a winners list or even a drawing for 24 copies.(Incidentally, my mom, my sister and I were at your signing at The Tattered Cover in Highlands Ranch, CO in September. It was fantastic to see you and hear you read excerpts from Book 8!)Thanks!Leora

About Me

I'm the author of the OUTLANDER novels--which Salon.com described as "the smartest historical sci-fi adventure/romance ever written by a science Ph.D. with a background in scripting Uncle Scrooge comic books."
I'm not sure I could describe them any better. [g]